Age no bar to slam dunk success

It’s only a few minutes past 5am on a Saturday morning. Sudha Saipradeep, a 37-year-old mother, zips past the entrance gate of Ethiraj College for Women, straight to the parking area near the basketball court. She rushes to the court and joins another five women who’re almost her age. After quick high-fives to all of them, Sudha gets started with the warm-up session along with others. These ladies, all of them who’re working mothers and aged above 35, have picked up the sport again after a gap of more than a decade. Back in their college days, they all played basketball at professional level, representing state and national teams. And once out of college “all of us had to give up the sport for obvious reasons — work and family commitments,” shares Sudha with a sigh.
We practised every weekend and slowly, more players joined us. Finally, a team was ready by March. Meanwhile, the college coach agreed to help us out. In April, we went for the Masters Tournament in Chandigarh and won.”

Taking up the sport after such a long gap wasn’t easy at all. Sudha says that they had to really work hard on three things — sponsorship, forming a proper team and fitness. They managed it all, but fitness was certainly something that challenged them the most. “When you practise after so many years, you are prone to injuries. And injuries at this age become very challenging. But our physio Dr Hansraj helped us with sports treatment for free,” says Sudha.

Recollecting her own experience of stepping on the court for the first in 20 years, Sudha, says, “I stopped playing in 1998 after I got admission to an engineering course. Studies, work and family kept me busy. So, when I was asked to do warm-up during the first practice session, I went blank. I had forgotten how to do it. I didn’t know how to run. But once I crossed that stage, things started falling in place quickly. Also, a big shout out to our families who have been very supportive,” shares Sudha, who had to deal with a broken spine during her pregnancy. Adds the team’s captain, Vidya Sivakumar, who’s an assistant professor at Ethiraj College, “The initial few days were definitely tough. Basketball is a fast-paced game, and so, you can imagine the kind of fitness a player requires. But for all of us, basketball has always been a passion and therefore, getting back on the court was an exhilarating experience. The joyous feeling of winning two championships, we can’t put that into words. When we went to Chandigarh, we weren’t sure of ourselves at all because that was the first time we again played as a team after a long gap. But I must say that habits die hard. Our skill sets are still as sharp as they were during our younger days. For the championship in Malaysia, we were also joined by two players from north India and coached by Ramesh Kalia, a national-level coach, thanks to Vinayaka Missions University who supported us there financially.” With a few tournaments coming up in the next few months, another player, Saranya K, says that sponsorship is something that’s really bothering them again. “When it comes to sponsorship, the first thing people look for is mileage. When the Masters Tournament happened, it was a first-of-a -kind event for people our age. So, it will take a while before sponsorships come easily. But at least, since we represent the state or the country, if government could give us the indoor basketball court at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for free, that would be of great help,” sums up Saranya.

However, now, the ladies are back to the sport with a bang. In the last few months, they have won two championships — in April, they won the Masters Tournament in Chandigarh and in September, they went to Malaysia, where they won the Asia Pacific Masters Games.

So, what made them get back to the court after so many years? Sudha says, “The passion to play basketball again was ignited when we received a WhatsApp message about the Masters Tournament in Chandigarh. The requirement was to form a team with players above 35 years. So, a few of us started asking more people, who’re national players. As expected, many said no. ‘My husband is not allowing me’, ‘I can’t get leave from office’, ‘I have kids to take care of’, ‘I’m out of shape’ — we heard all sorts of excuses. So, we decided to start practising with whoever was available. So, early this year, four of us started practising at Ethiraj College. One among us is a faculty at the college and therefore, we managed to get permission to use the basketball court there.”

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